Showing results by author "Swift Reads" in All Categories

In Leading Change (2012), long-time Harvard business professor John P. Kotter outlines his influential process to establish and secure permanent changes that will make any organization more efficient, successful, and competitive. Bringing change to an organization often entails high stakes. Success can revitalize a business and unlock new potential, but failure can doom a firm to years of stagnation. Purchase this in-depth summary to learn more.

Behave: The Biology of Humans at Our Best and Worst (2017) explains the numerous biological, cultural, and evolutionary factors that shape human behavior. Neurobiologist Robert M. Sapolsky uses studies from various scientific disciplines, including neurology, psychology, sociology, and anthropology, to explore why humans exhibit variable responses to both provocative and mundane situations.... (Disclaimer: This is NOT the original book. If you’re looking for the original book, it is available from Amazon and Audible.)

The Good Gut: The Good Gut: Taking Control of Your Weight, Your Mood, and Your Long-Term Health (2015) by Justin Sonnenburg and Erica Sonnenburg explores the fascinating machinations of the human gut. Also known as the microbiome, the gut is teeming with live bacteria that help make or break one’s physical and mental health.

Lost Connections explores the physical, psychological, and cultural factors that lead to depression, as well as the tactics communities can employ to overcome it. British journalist Johann Hari argues that while depression can have a biological cause, it’s largely an involuntary reaction to the social ills that plague modern society. Purchase this in-depth summary to learn more.

The Surrender Experiment: My Journey into Life’s Perfection by best-selling author Michael A. Singer, is a spiritual memoir that chronicles Singer’s quest to embrace whatever the universe presented to him at any given moment. Singer’s experiment with surrender began in 1970, when he was enrolled in a graduate-level economics program at the University of Florida and realized there was a voice inside his head, often critical and judgmental.... (Disclaimer: This is NOT the original book. If you’re looking for the original book, it is available from Amazon and Audible.)

Fooled by Randomness: The Hidden Role of Chance in Life and in the Markets (2001) explains how humans routinely underestimate the role luck plays in determining outcomes. This failure to account for uncertainty can lead someone to attribute meaning to a result where none exists, or to overlook the probability of a rare but cataclysmic event....

This is a summary of The 33 Strategies of War (2006), which teaches different approaches to conflict. Robert Greene examines ways to defeat an enemy in contexts ranging from violent battlefields to the sets of famous Hollywood films....

The Handmaid’s Tale (1985) by Margaret Atwood is a dystopian novel set in a version of the US that has been overthrown by religious fundamentalists. In what was once most likely Massachusetts, under the militaristic regime of the Republic of Gilead, women no longer have civil rights or autonomy.... (Disclaimer: This is NOT the original book. If you’re looking for the original book, it is available from Amazon and Audible.)

Emotional Intelligence (published in 1995, last updated in 2005) by Daniel Goleman is a seminal work about how people recognize, navigate, and manage emotions in themselves and others. Those who can successfully read human moods, including their own, have a high degree of emotional intelligence…Purchase this in-depth summary to learn more.

Billion Dollar Whale: The Man Who Fooled Wall Street, Hollywood, and the World (2018) examines the exploits of Jho Low, a Malaysian money launderer who organized the theft of at least $5 billion from a government fund meant to create jobs in the Southeast Asian country. Low used some of the money to forge connections with notable politicians in the Middle East, North America, and Asia. Purchase this in-depth summary to learn more. (Disclaimer: This is NOT the original book. If you’re looking for the original book, it is available from Amazon and Audible.)

Christopher Clark’s The Sleepwalkers is an expansive account of the days, months, and years leading up to World War I. Clark’s central contention is that scholars’ continuous preoccupation with the question of who was responsible for starting the war stems from an erroneous understanding of the events....

In Becoming (2018), Michelle Obama recounts the familial, educational, romantic, and political experiences that culminated in her tenure as first lady of the United States. Purchase this in-depth summary to learn more.

Big Debt Crises (2018) by Ray Dalio is an economic primer based on the proprietary decision-making system used at the author’s hugely successful hedge fund, Bridgewater Associates. Financial crises across history tend to share certain features....Listen to this in-depth summary by Swift Reads to learn more.

Five Days at Memorial (2013) is a two-part investigation of the controversial events and decisions that took place at Memorial Medical Center in New Orleans in the chaotic days following Hurricane Katrina’s landfall. (Disclaimer: This is NOT the original book. If you’re looking for the original book, it is available from Amazon and Audible.)

Becoming Supernatural: How Common People Are Doing the Uncommon (2017) by Joe Dispenza guides listeners through the steps of developing their full potential, which is far beyond what most believe is possible. Bridging science and spirituality, Dispenza outlines principles and practices that can help ordinary people harness the power inside themselves to achieve remarkable outcomes in their daily lives, including drastic improvements in health, mood, finances, and relationships....

This is a summary of Tim S. Grover's Relentless: From Good to Great to Unstoppable (2013), which teaches how to cultivate the mindset of an elite achiever. Grover’s ideas about high performance are based on his decades as a trainer for elite athletes including NBA stars Kobe Bryant, Michael Jordan, and Dwyane Wade. Bryant, Jordan, and Wade followed Grover’s no-nonsense training program.

This Is Marketing: You Can’t Be Seen Until You Learn to See (2018) teaches people how to promote products that are tailored for specific segments of society. Author and entrepreneur Seth Godin explains that businesses and individual marketers often make the mistake of drumming up sales by hyping plentiful but substandard wares.... Purchase this in-depth summary to learn more.

In God Is Not Great: How Religion Poisons Everything (2007), journalist Christopher Hitchens argues that religious faith is not necessary for humanity’s progress. In fact, faith in supernatural beings has slowed scientific advancement, led to human rights violations, and facilitated the creation of totalitarian regime.

Blitzscaling: The Lightning-Fast Path to Building Massively Valuable Companies, by Reid Hoffman and Chris Yeh, explains how start-up businesses can quickly expand into global corporations with industry-altering products and services. Blitzscaling, a term for a group of tactics used to rapidly grow businesses, has been employed by technology companies such as Facebook, LinkedIn, and Amazon to reach more customers, capture more of a given market, and improve overall profits. (Disclaimer: This is NOT the original book. If you’re looking for the original book, it is available from Amazon and Audible.)

No-Drama Discipline by psychotherapists Daniel J. Siegel and Tina Payne Bryson explains how parents can diminish disorder while strengthening their child’s brain. The authors’ approach to discipline, based on the latest in neuroscience at the time of publication, enables parents to turn meltdowns, temper tantrums, and everyday frustrations into teachable moments that strengthen the parent-child relationship. Purchase this in-depth summary to learn more.